One of Tucson’s first high-rise buildings is headed to the auction block.
The Pioneer building, at 100 N. Stone Ave., is scheduled for auction May 14 through May 16 with a starting bid of $1.2 million.
Built in 1929 as the Pioneer Hotel, the 11-story building boasted the largest ballroom in the country at the time.
The Pioneer Hotel, seen here in 1963, dominated the corner of North Stone Avenue and Pennington Street.
It is currently a little over 50% occupied, mainly with office tenants, auction documents show.
Rezoning opportunities include office, commercial and residential uses.
The building does not have a historical designation or limitations because of renovations over the years.
It’s more than 100,000 square feet in size with various rezoning possibilities “without concern of preserving architectural characteristics.”
The Pioneer building is the site of a deadly Tucson fire in 1970 where 29 people were killed. In the years following the fire, the building was converted to office space.
In 2017, work began to restore the original dining room to its original state.
In 2017, work began to restore the approximately 2,000-square-foot former dining room of the historic Pioneer Hotel to lobby and conference space.
Current tenants include law firms, real estate brokers, finance advisors and nonprofit groups.
There are also two retail tenants onsite, Ike’s Coffee and Tea and Bombolé, an Indian empanada shop.
The building sits on about a half-acre.
Fletcher McCusker, chairman of the Rio Nuevo board, which invests in downtown projects, said office demand has not returned since the pandemic.
“I would not be surprised to see an apartment use there,” he said of potential future development. “There is a great deal of demand for urban residential right now.”
According to documents from Ten-X, which will be brokering the auction, the benefits of an auction sale versus a traditional sale include a speedier closing of the sale and vetting of bidders.
Ten-X handles all the marketing and has information on the building’s condition that a potential buyer might want to know.
Serious bidders sign confidentiality agreements, sales agreements and, in some cases, a deposit of about 10% of the purchase price within a 24-hour window of their final bid, which is nonrefundable if they have the winning bid.
Bidders are also prequalified before the auction begins.
The Pioneer building is currently owned by Tucson-based Holualoa Cos., records from the Pima County Assessor’s Office show.
The Pioneer is currently being used as office space.
The company did not respond to requests for an interview on why it is selling the building.
Vist Ten-X.com and search for Tucson properties to get more information on the pending auction or how to place a bid.
Watch now: When the Pioneer Hotel was built in 1929, it was the tallest building in Tucson and stayed the tallest for some time. It now ranks at 15th tallest.
Longtime Tucson bar sold, to be redeveloped
